Big Bang Friday... It's been a long time since we posted, and a lot has happened. Today was an amazing day, as we went to court for Dasha's re-adoption hearing. Before I get into that, I'll try and catch up on our summer. Amber started playing softball in the spring. The whole family participated. The kids went to every practice and every game. Dasha learned all about baseball. Amber had the biggest cheering section, we're kind of a mob where ever we go. At the end of April, our friend John West gave us tickets to the Angel's Game. These weren't just any tickets, but seats right behind home plate about 7 rows up. It was also a Friday night, and every Friday after the game, the Angel's put on a spectacular fireworks show, "Big Bang Friday." This was Dasha's first Major League game. We could not only see the players, but even hear them talk, it was awesome! Jacob, who loves the Angels, remember the kid that wore an Angel's hat every day we were in Kazakhstan, was in heaven. The Angels won and then it got dark, Dasha was very nervous...then boom! The fireworks started. It was a great show. Dasha was scared at first, she'd never seen fireworks before, then she was cheering, laughing saying, "mommy did you see that..." It was so cool. Jacob started T-Ball this summer, and we've practicing in the backyard almost every night. Dasha has incredible strength and coordination. She can hit, throw and catch. She will play softball in the spring like her sister. It's fun to watch the kids play together. As summer approached, and school was coming to an end, we started going to the pool. Dasha so desperately wanted to swim, although she had never swam before. Think about it, six years old and never swam. She was very excited to swim, but once she was in the water, she was terrified. She would hold onto Kim or my neck and was panic stricken, and yet excited at the same time. It's hard to explain. This went on for almost a month. She and Jacob enrolled in swimming lessons. Now Jacob couldn't swim either, but he was fearless, he would jump off the diving board or in the deep water and fight his way to the top but needed help. They both needed to learn to swim. It's strange, I taught lessons for years, swam on the high school and college swim team and was a rescue swimmer in the Navy and I couldn't team them. So, they took lessons and still are. Now they can both swim across the pool by themselves. I'm so proud of both of them as they have worked so hard. Now we're working on surfing, because that's what we do at the Werkmeister house. Although Dasha has become a good swimmer, she won't go far into the ocean. Jacob on the other hand jumps right in, scares Kim to death. This summer I've been taking him out on the front of my 10 foot surf board we paddle out into the lineup and catch some waves. Kim was not too happy about this, as I snuck him out the first time when she wasn't looking. I think we'll get Dasha out soon, when Kim's not looking. There's so much that's been happening, and Kim is a better writer than I am, so I'll let her fill in the blanks in the next entry. We are getting ready for school to start in three weeks. Amber starts seventh grade, Mitchell sixth, Dasha first grade and Jacob Kindergarten. The kids are excited as Amber looks forward to Junior High, Mitchell will be king of the school, Dasha gets to be in the class as her friend Delaney and Jacob finally gets to go to big kid school. Now for court today. Our good friend and attorney Bill Crowe took care of all the legal documents and set our court date. The re-adoption process allows Dasha to have a U.S. birth certificate. Currently she has a Kazakhstan birth certificate that is hand written and in Russian. This would make getting her registered for school, a driver's license, marriage license etc. difficult, so it's pretty common for kids who are adopted internationally. Bill has been so helpful and we're lucky to have good friends like Bill and Tricia Crowe. Anyway, it was quite an event, Rick and Pam (Kim's folks) and Barbara (My mom) attended. We went to the family court house in the city Orange. We went to our court room, which was for adopting families, there were at least 10 families there. It was nice to see so many people adopting kids. We had to wait for almost two hours before it was our turn. The deputy/bailiff was very nice and funny. When we entered the court room, the judge was so nice. Dasha was very nervous, not really knowing what to expect. The proceeding took less than 10 minutes, we had to sign the adoption paper work and then an amazing thing happened. Kim and I had both said less than 5 words, Bill took care of the details, but then the judge began talking to Jacob. The deputy had asked if there were any brothers or sisters of the adopted children. The deputy handed us a piece of paper. It was for the sibling. It said To Dasha Werkmeister, Name Jacob Werkmeister, WE/I Accept as our/my responsibility and promise to be a loving and caring Brother. The judge held the paper and began to ask Jacob questions. What is your name? I'm pretty sure we all held our breathe as Jacob is pretty shy around strangers. He instantly said, "Jacob" Next, how old are you, "I'm five" The judge then began a series of questions, will you be a good brother? "Yes" Will you take care of your sister forever? "Yes." I can't remember all of the questions as some sort of dust or something was in my eyes and throat. I can tell you that Jacob did a great job, he spoke so well, and we were all so proud. Dasha was so nervous, and Jacob seemed to know he needed to stand up for his sister. Finally, the judge asked Jacob to sign the document, Jacob wrote his name on the line, he wrote slow and all of the letters were correct, sometimes, his "C" is backwards, not today. The judge took the document had the document stamped and shook Jacob's hand. Now Dasha will have her own birth certificate and promise from her brother that he will always love and care for her.